About a year ago I stopped making regular updates to this blog to concentrate on my Namnesia Antidote blog. While that is an ongoing effort, I am starting what should be about a year long effort to revitalize the concept of a "This Day in History" blog. I have decided to leave this blog intact and as-is, using a new "This Day in History 2.0" blog for my expanded and full version. Please feel free to email with your ideas. The two tables below should allow you to find a posting for the "Day in History" you wish to research.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

May 20......

May 20 is the 140th (141st in leap years) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 225 days remaining in the year on this date.

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Government "There is something wrong in a government where they who do the most have the least. There is something wrong when honesty wears a rag, and rascality a robe; when the loving, the tender, eat a crust, while the infamous sit at banquets." — Robert Ingersoll

Stupidest Quote from the Right for the Day: On Iraq War "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa [for nuclear weapons]." — George W. Bush included this lie in his 2003 State of the Union address over the objections of the CIA {Only one of his most visible impeachable offenses}

Thought for the day: "Where facts are few, experts are many."

{Disclaimer: I have attempted to give credit to the many different sources that I get entries. Any failure to do so is unintentional. Any statement enclosed by brackets like these are the opinion of the blogger, A Proud Liberal.}

EVENTS

● 4 B.C. - Jesus of Nazareth (probable actual birthday).

● 325 - The First Council of Nicaea – the first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church – is held.

● 526 - An earthquake kills about 300,000 people in Syria and Antiochia.

● 685 - The Battle of Dunnichen or Nechtansmere is fought between a Pictish army under King Bridei III and the invading Northumbrians under King Ecgfrith, who are decisively defeated.

● 1217 - The Second Battle of Lincoln is fought near Lincoln, England, resulting in the defeat of Prince Louis of France by William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke.

● 1293 - King Sancho IV of Castile creates the Study of General Schools of Alcalá.

● 1293 - Earthquake strikes Kamakura Japan, 30,000 killed

● 1303 - Treaty of Paris restores Gascony to British in Hundred Years War

● 1310 - Shoes were made for both right & left feet

● 1347 - Rienzo calls Rome for people's tribunal

● 1495 - French King Charles VIII leaves Naples

● 1497 - John Cabot sets sail from Bristol, England, on his ship Matthew looking for a route to the west (other documents give a 2 May date).

● 1631 - The city of Magdeburg in Germany is seized by forces of the Holy Roman Empire and most of its inhabitants massacred, in one of the bloodiest incidents of the Thirty Years' War.

● 1639 - First American public school established, Dorchester, Mass.

● 1674 - John Sobieski became Poland’s first King.

● 1690 - Death of John Eliot, 86, colonial missionary to the American Indians of Maryland. Eliot arrived in America from England in 1631; by 1663 he had translated the entire Bible into the Algonquin Indian language.

● 1754 - Columbia University in New York City was chartered as King's College, under sponsorship of the Episcopal Church. The institution adopted its present name in 1896.

● 1774 - Britain's Parliament passed the Coercive Acts to punish the American colonists for their increasingly anti-British behavior

● 1774 - Britain gives Québec, Labrador & territory north of the Ohio

● 1775 - Citizens of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina declare independence of Britain

● 1776 - Mohawks, under Joseph Brandt, defeat Americans at the Battle of the Cedars.

● 1784 - England & Netherlands signs peace treaty (Peace of Paris)

● 1795 - Last major uprising of the French sans coulottes against the reactionary authority of the Thermadorian government. Lasted four days; bloodily put down by military force. Main slogan was "For bread and the constitution of 1793," and against the big bourgeoisie.

● 1813 - Napoleon Bonaparte leads his French troops into the Battle of Bautzen in Saxony, Germany, against the combined armies of Russia and Prussia. The battle ends the next day with a French victory.

● 1896 - The six ton chandelier of the Palais Garnier falls on the crowd resulting in the death of one and the injury of many others.

● 1899 - Jacob German of New York City became the first driver ever arrested for speeding. Mr. German was whipping his taxicab all over Lexington Avenue, going over the posted 12 mile-per-hour speed limit. A century later, such speeds are rarely exceeded on Lexington Ave. during daylight hours.

● 1902 - Cuba gains independence from the United States. Tomás Estrada Palma becomes the first President of Cuba. US military occupation of Cuba (since Jan 1, 1899) ends.

● 1904 - U.S. warships ordered to Tangiers, Morocco to "protect U.S. interests."

● 1908 - James Stewart, the American movie actor, was born.

● 1910 - Funeral for Britain's King Edward VII

● 1915 - Bataafsche Petroleum begins oil extraction of Maracaibo

● 1916 - The small town of Codell, Kansas is struck by a tornado. Incredibly, the same town was also hit in 1917 and 1918 on the exact same date

● 1958 - High Wycombe weighs new mayor; Citizens of the English town of High Wycombe witness a unique ceremony at which the mayor is weighed in public.

● 1959 - Japanese-Americans regain their citizenship

● 1959 - Shah of Persia visits Netherlands

● 1961 - A white mob attacked the Freedom Riders in Montgomery, AL. The event prompted the federal government to send U.S. marshals.

● 1961 - Mauritania adopts constitution

● 1963 - Sukarno appointed President of Indonesia

● 1964 - IWW wins free-speech fight, Roosevelt University, Chicago.

● 1965 - PIA Flight 705, a Pakistan International Airlines Boeing 720 - 040 B crashes while descending to land at Cairo International Airport, killing 119 of the 125 passengers and crew.

● 1965 - British police to be issued with tear gas; Britain's police are to be armed with tear gas guns and grenades for use against dangerous criminals.

● 1967 - 10,000 demonstrate against war in Vietnam

● 1967 - BBC bans Beatle's "A Day in the Life" (drug references) {The reference to counting all the "holes" that would fit in the Albert Hall gives some weight to this action as well.}

● 1969 - U.S. troops make their 11th assault in 10 days on "Hamburger Hill," finally capturing it in one of the Vietnam War's bloodiest battles. The mountain proved of little strategic value, and was abandoned eight days later.

● 1995 - President Bill Clinton announced that the two-block stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House would be permanently closed to traffic as a security measure.

● 1995 - In a second Referendum in Quebec, the population rejects by a slight majority the proposal from its government to move towards independence from Canada.

● 1996 - Gay rights: The Supreme Court of the United States rules in Romer v. Evans against a law that would have prevented any city, town or county in the state of Colorado from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the rights of gays and lesbians.

● 1999 - At Heritage High School in Conyers, GA, a 15-year-old student shot and injured six students. He then surrendered to an assistant principal at the school.

● 2000 - Blairs' delight at birth of fourth child; The British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie celebrate the birth of their fourth child, Leo.

● 2002 - After 27 years of struggle against a brutal and genocidal Indonesian invasion, East Timor triumphantly celebrates its Independence Day. The U.S. Congress and Bush Administration move quickly to try to reinstate military aid to Indonesia, even though the country never brought to justice or challenged the behavior of any of the military leaders that perpetrated the genocide.

● 2003 - The United States banned beef imports from Canada after a case of mad cow disease was discovered in Canada's cattle country.

● 2004 - Iraqi police backed by American soldiers raided the home and offices of Ahmad Chalabi, a prominent Iraqi politician once groomed as a possible replacement for Saddam Hussein.

● 2005 - William Seawell, United States Army Brigadier General (b. 1918)

● 2006 - Cherd Songsri, Thai film director

HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

● Roman Catholic:● St. Anastasius XIII● St. Aquila● St. Austregisilus● St. Basilissa● St. Basilla● St. Baudelius● St. Bernardine of Siena● St. Ethelbert● St. Hilary● St. Ivo of Chartres● St. Lucifer● St. Plautilla● St. Thalelaeus● St. Theodore of Pavia

● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar for May 7 (Civil Date: May 20)● Commemoration of the Apparition of the Sign of the Precious Cross over Jerusalem in 351 A.D.● Martyr Acacius the centurion at Byzantium.● Repose of of St. Nilus, abbot of Sora.● St. John of Zaden in Georgia, and 12 disciples: Sts. Shio, David, Anthony, Thaddeus, Stephen, Isidore, Michael, Pyrrhus, Zeno, Jesse, Joseph, and Abibus.● New-Martyr Pachomius of Patmos.● Opening of the Relics of St. Nilus the Myrrh-gusher of Mt. Athos.● "Zhirovits" Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos.● Repose of Hieromonk Eulogius of Valaam (1969).

● Anglican:● Alcuin, deacon & abbot of Tours

● East Timor National Day.

● Bulgaria : Botev Day

● Cambodia : Martyrs Day (1979)

● Cameroon : Constitution Day (1972)

● Cuba-1902, Saudi Arabia-1927 : Independence Day

● Massachusetts : Lafayette Day (1834-anniversary of his death)

● North Carolina : Mecklenburg Day (1775)

● Zaïre : Revolution Day

● These Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"● Canada : Victoria Day (1819) - ( Monday )● US : Armed Forces Day - ( Saturday )

Click on this LINK to see original Wikipedia list with many having links with details.

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About Me

Life long Liberal. Actually saw JFK on campaign trail. Defining moment of my life was the assassination of JFK. First presidential election I participated in was knocking on doors for McGovern, have been tilting at windmills ever since.